Presentations To Prepare Students For Grad School

The Student Advising and Mentoring Center is working to “demystify” graduate school for Sam Houston State University’s students, and especially its first-generation students, through a series of programs designed to facilitate and encourage expanding education beyond a bachelor’s degree.

The first will be a GRE prep program that will highlight the components of the graduate record exam, required for admission to many graduate programs across the country, on Feb. 9 at SHSU’s The Woodlands Center and March 9 on the main campus. Both programs will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Led by English professor Linda Byrd Cook and mathematics department chair Brian Loft, the sessions will examine techniques for success in both the verbal and mathematical sections of the examination.

While the prep program is free, students are required to register in advance.

On Feb. 13, SAM Center graduate fellow Candice Walker will detail the basics of applying to a graduate program, including how to ask for recommendation letters, and answer questions about financial aid assistance and much more during a Graduate School Information Meeting. The session will be from 5:30-7 p.m. in College of Humanities and Social Sciences Building Room 206.

Two sessions will also be held at The Woodlands Center, led by SAM Center director for academic support programs Bernice Strauss and Stephanie Bluth, director of academic communications for SHSU’s Graduate Studies Office. The first will be on Feb. 16, from 10-11:30 a.m. in TWC Room 111, followed by a presentation on March 26 from 5-6 p.m. in TWC 109.

“A significant number of our students are first-generation college students and as a result, they often see a bachelor’s degree as this enormous goal or challenge and it is, but they don’t always recognize that there are additional opportunities and that graduate school is a realistic option for them,” Strauss said. “That is a part of the original motivation for the graduate school information programs.”

Providing students with information on applying and funding grad school, as well as what the opportunities and advantages are, is part of the SAM Center’s ongoing mission to reach students across the spectrum of performance, Strauss said.

“I really think some of these programs, by providing information, demystify the process,” she said. “Especially if you’re a first-generation student, we tend to think that graduate school is a mystical experience with all these intangibles, but I think when you learn and have access to information, it makes the option much more realistic and much more doable in the practical sense.”

Finally, Strauss will also lead a three-part graduate school program addressing the needs of the graduate student on Feb. 23 at The Woodlands Center Room 111.

This presentation will cover “Characteristics of a Successful Graduate Student,” from 9-10:30 a.m.; “Managing Relationships While in Graduate School,” from 10:45 a.m. to noon; and “Thesis and Dissertations—Start to Finish,” from 12:15-1:30 p.m. Students can choose to attend one, or all three, of the presentations.

In addition to targeting students across the spectrum of performance, these workshops are part of the SAM Center’s efforts to expand their programming to all of SHSU’s campuses.

“There is a significant graduate school population on The Woodlands campus and we’re looking to increase programming to students there and meet the needs of those students,” Strauss said. “We’re also doing study skills for undergraduates at The Woodlands Center, so really what we’re looking to do is expand all of our services from the main campus to The Woodlands.

For more information on any of these programs, or to sign up for one of the programs, call the SAM Center at 936.294.4444.